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BMW Motorcycles (aka Beemers) and the Competition Have an interest in BMW motorcycles or just motorcycles in general? Discuss the line of BMW motorcycles and how they may compare to the rest of the competition in this forum!

Im planning to buy a 1150r bike 2004 model, can someone give me some pro's and cons about the bike. It has 44,000 milage. Is this bike fuel efficient? how about the maintainance? What are the usual problems and ect..

First, a BMW motorcycle is a "beemer", and BMW car is a "bimmer". If you are going to own both, you might as well get this little bit of trivia staight, contrary to what some say. It is kind of like knowing secret handshake.

The R1150R is a very dependable motorcycle, IF you maintain it properly. It should get fuel mileage in the 40's, and should go at least a couple of hundred thousand miles. They are relatively easy for the DIYer to work on the bike at home, especially the routine maintenance, including valve adjustments, so there is not much excuse for not changing the lubricants on a routine schedule, maybe even more often than required by the BMW manual. For a BMW with 44,000 miles, I would want to see the service records since new to ensure that maintenance has been properly performed.

If these bikes have a "weak" point, it is the drive train outside of the transmission (the transmission itself is fine, again with reasonable gear oil changes). Although the BMW manual does not require it (of course, BMW has "lifetime" fills in their car transmissions), the splines on the transmission input shaft and the final drive input shaft should/need to be cleaned and lubricated with a light coating of high-moly EP grease. The consensus seems to be about every 40,000 miles or so. The problem is that this requires significant disassembly of the drive train, and so most people don't do this (if they are even aware of it). It is something that can be done in your garage at a significant savings over what the dealer will charge, but it is a time-consuming task. Some bikes never have this done, and never have a problem, but the consensus seems to be if you don't do this maintenance you are running a risk.

Some bikes suffer bearing failure in the final drive, but this seems to be a limited problem (contrary to internet chatter). Freqent FD gear oil changes and examining the oil for metal particles (they are easy and cheap to do at home) and frequent monitoring for any sideways free play/movement of the rear wheel will reduce the likelihood of this problem and catch it early if it does start to develop.

define efficient, if buying a bike due to fuel economy get a prius, what you save on fuel you will spend on tires and gear, if buying a bike cause you want to ride go for it!! the bike is going to return somewhere between 35 -45 mpg depending on how its ridden. maint is pretty straight forward if you are mechanically inclined, check out advrider.com and i-bmw.com for resources to all things two wheeled and BMW specific bikes.

if your commuting on it you will need good gear to be able to deal with weather conditions, hot,cold,rain and such, commuting by bike every day unless there is ice on the road is a commitment and puts you into some pretty bad conditions over the years but if you love bikes its well worth the trade off, the only thing I miss about working for someone else is no longer riding to work now that my commute is a walk to the barn

thank you for the correction mike....your info has helped me a lot...will keep in mind. Im not planning on using it for work....more of a recreational drive at least once a week evry weekend....thanks again..